Ireland legend Roy Keane has taken a sly dig at former Ireland turned England star Declan Rice in the latest episode of Stick To Football.
The Arsenal defender was one of, if not the most high-profile, defector from the Republic of Ireland national team set up in 2018 when, after appearing in three friendlies for the Irish senior team, he made the move to England.
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Since then, Rice has gone on to be one of England's most successful players, moving from West Ham to Arsenal, captaining the country, and picking up 64 (more) international caps along the way.
While even Roy Keane wasn't in a position to question his ability or skill, the events of 2018 still loom large in the back of the proud Corkonian's mind.
Rice, now 26, made the move away from Ireland at 21 after representing the country at U17s, U19s and U21s, as well at senior level. Although he wasn't the first to do it, with Jack Grealish also receiving criticism for his decision at the time, Rice's now-infamous kissing of the Irish badge and passionate renditions of Amhrán Na Bhfiann rubbed salt into already hurting wounds.
It was a wound that stung Keane more than most. He and Martin O'Neill had managed Rice during their Irish tenure, but never capped him competitively, opening the door for his later international switch. It is still remembered as one of the great oversights of the O'Neill tenure, and judging by Keane's latest comments, he's unlikely to forget about it anytime soon.
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Roy Keane takes sly dig at Declan Rice over badge kiss
With Liverpool now in possession of the Premier League title and the season wrapping up with every passing minute, Roy Keane, along with his Stick To Football colleagues, set about handing out their end of season awards.
Not blighted by the past, Keane advocated for Rice to be awarded the best midfielder of the season over the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Ryan Gravenberch, and Alexis MacAllister. Despite being positive about Rice's footballing ability, Keane couldn't help but squeeze in a sly dig at the former Irishman.
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Prompted by Jill Scott's proclamation of how good a guy Rice is and Gary Neville's questioning of whether it still hurts Keane, the former Manchester United captain jokingly called him the 'Irish fella' before telling the panel that he wasn't resentful because Rice only kissed the badge at U21s - a comment very much made with his tongue in cheek.
I'd go with Rice, he's just a big strong boy, isn't he. Yeah, we'll go with the Irish fella Rice yeah. I don't hold resentment, he only kissed the badge for the 21s to be fair, not so bad. I let all that go.
Unsurprisingly, when Arsenal legend Ian Wright tried to make a sympathetic defence of Rice, Keane quickly shut him down, calling him 'Ghandi' and sarcastically quipping that there's nothing wrong with kissing the badge and moving on.
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Alright Ghandi. Yeah of course, you kiss the badge, you move on.
You can see the interaction from just after the 32-minute mark below:
While Keane clearly has little admiration for the way Rice dealt with the situation, Gary Neville was more sympathetic, claiming that it would have been a hard situation for the then 21-year-old because he could've loved both countries.
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